What would happen if Sega combined classic puzzle video game Tetris with the classic concept of making things exactly the same, but really huge? Tetris Giant would happen.

Tetris Giant, which features giant tetrominoes and giant joysticks, was just one of many brilliant innovations on hand at the IAAPA 2009 show in Las Vegas last week, a show expertly covered by arcade coverage experts Arcade Heroes. Trust us, you’ve never seen a Tetris like this before, because it’s bigger than previous versions.

Also on hand at the show are highlights like the Excite Truck-like Hummer arcade game (also from Sega), the remade Daytona USA known generically as Sega Racing Classic and the brilliantly named Tank! Tank! Tank! That last one is apparently Namco’s spiritual successor to competitive arcade classic Tokyo Wars.

For more coverage of the IAAPA show, which features even more deluxe arcade cabinets upon which to sit, hit up Arcade Heroes.

More IAAPA 2009 videos – Tetris Giant, Hummer, Twisted (+ NASCAR 2 news) & more [Arcade Heroes]

Mark Turmell, programmer on the original Smash TV and its spin-off Total Carnage, says on the RetroGaming with Racketboy podcast that Midway, before it “hit the fan,” was already hard at work on a modern day revival of the game. While it sounds like work on the game — a 3D but still top-down shooter — was halted, Turmell says the project moved at least as far as the programming stage.

He expects that Smash TV “will rise again” at Midway’s new home Warner Bros. given the media conglomerate’s snapping up of the classic IP and, presumably, the popularity of twin-stick shooters on digital platforms like XBLA and PSN.

RetroGaming with Racketboy Podcast Episode #2 [Racketboy]

So is Terry Bogard — but back to Mai. In this arcade title, she’ll be flying over freeways, throwing fans and appearing in countless merchandise. Have you ever tried to count Mai merchandise? You can’t. It’s impossible. I tried.

『KOF SKY STAGE』にテリー＆舞が参戦！ [Kotaku Japan]

Players putting their money where their mouths are, betting that they are better, betting that they will win and betting with money. “Let’s face it,” says 30-something Scott Popular, “money makes everything interesting.”

Popular is a regular on the fighting tournament circuit and self-described tourney “hype man”. His job, he says, is to “keep the hype” during tournaments, and he’s dead right: money may not make things better, it may not make things more fun. But that 20 or that 50 will, without a doubt, make things more interesting.

It doesn’t matter where the tournament is, but you can bet, there are players there picking up extra cash. You might be the eighth best Melty Blood player, but the eighth best Melty Blood doesn’t win anything besides the feeling of satisfaction. It’s not like the tournament is a front, that’s not the case at all. “You don’t want these money matches near a proper tournament,” says Popular. They get in the way, they’re a distraction. Money matches are not why people enrol in fighting game tournaments — most don’t even know about them. They’re often in an invite hotel room or off in some corner or banquet room somewhere. But search the boards, the forums and there are people trying to set something up, make something happen.

“While the large majority of players and spectators aren’t involved in money matches,” says Capcom’s Seth Killian, “they can still be quite common on some games. Especially as you get towards the finals, or during a marquee matchup, you’ll hear a lot of shouting about who likes which player, for how much money, and at what odds.” Before Seth Killian was a manager at Capcom USA and before he had a Street Fighter boss named after him, Killian was making his mark on the fighting game circuit. “It’s a friendly thing with no centralised system — just player to player bets,” he explains.

Betting is done usually in “First to” sets: First to seven, first to 10, etc. The first player to win seven matches, or the first to win 10 matches, wins. “Common bets include: Who will win the set, an obvious bet, who will win the next match, or even who will land the first hit,” says Killian. Players may put up the money themselves or might pool money as is often the case in region rivalries — the top West Coast player vs. the top East Coast player. Side bets can round out the action. First hit bets are for those there to gamble, who want that instant rush. Bets can get complicated and interesting by using characters that are typically considered “weak” (Gen, anyone?) to mix-mashing fighting styles (rushdown down attack player vs. run-away-run-down-the-clock player). If bets get too complex, then players and punters will divert their attention to a more straight-up match.

As video game tournaments become bigger and bigger, there’s the inevitable push to legitimise tourneys as actual businesses. Gone are the days winners were handed paper bags with money symbols scrawled on them in fat, magic marker and stuffed with cold, hard cashola. Winners must fill out a myriad of sheets including tax forms for Uncle Sam. More reputable tournaments will pay up in a matter of weeks, while there are horror stories from the shadier events of it taking up to a year and a half to get the tournament winnings.

Make a name for yourself as a world class fighting game player, and you’ll find yourself with players lining up to play you — for money. The challengers might think they can win, or they might view the experience of getting their arse kicked by a world class player as a postcard to themselves. It’s not always the top players who draw the big money matches, but the middle level players that might make the most interesting match-ups. “Some of the bets can get quite large,” says Killian. “At a tournament I was at just a few weeks ago, two players faced off in a ‘first to 10 wins’ match in MVC2 for $US13,000.”

But is this legal?

“Federal law does not have much interest in gambling,” says I. Nelson Rose, an attorney and a senior professor at the Whittier Law School in California, “unless it is organised crime or the federal government has to get involved, as with interstate horse racing”. One of the leading experts on gaming (here, gambling) law, Professor Rose is the author of the upcoming Internet Gaming Law. “There’s too much social betting to begin with.” Whether it’s an office pool on the Oscars, a round of horse shoes or even Governors making friendly Super Bowl bets (which might even violate their state’s laws!), social betting is so pervasive in society, that eradicating it would be a fool’s errand on the part of the government. Instead, the federal government focuses its attention on those who can make money off of gambling, typically organised crime. “The enforcement of gambling laws,” says Prof. Rose, “is low on the list of priority’s of the federal government.”

“If it is truly a game of skill,” says Prof. Rose, “it is not gambling. And if participants are merely betting on themselves — more of an entry fee than a wager — it would not fall under any federal law.” According to Prof. Rose, those “bets” players are putting on themselves could legally be considered “an entry fee”. Side bets would not fall under federal law either as federal gambling laws do not apply to patrons of bookies. In short: Federal gambling law applies to those who are making money off the act of gambling and not simple wagering on games of skill.

It’s the state laws where things get sticky. In the United States, gambling laws differ by individual states. Some states have old and outdated gambling laws on the books. Take California, which says it is illegal to bet on contests of “skill, speed and endurance”. Other states, such as Arizona, are starting to even take measures to make wagering on games of skill difficult. States having measures on gambling is not unique. “All of the states have prohibitions on gambling,” Prof. Rose points out, “but again, most exempt games which are predominantly skill.” If video games are games of skill and not chance, then it could very well not fall under state law. Some states restrict even games of skill. The question is largely: Are fighting games in fact games of skill or chance? Play a couple rounds with guys like Daigo Umehara or Alex Valle and see how far luck gets you.

“The appeal for money matches is simple,” says Popular. “It’s cash in hand, right away.” You play to win, bring your best game and “not some experimental bullshit tactics”. Once that is cash on the table—or more often than not, television set—it starts. And it ends when the fight is over. “You’re not going to rage quit in a room with a people betting money,” says Popular. “No way.”

Rage quitting and the arcade tradition of fighting games are driving forces for the perceived needs for players to hash things out in person. “Money matches can also be a way to settle scores between players who have online drama,” says Killian. Web start-up BringIt.com is offering an online matchmaking service that using a ranking-type system to match players of similar skill levels in money matches. Players pay beforehand via PayPal to reduce the risk of sudden quits or “connection problems”.

The federal Wire Act prohibits anyone in the gambling business, Prof. Rose explains, from using interstate wire infrastructure to transmit info that can be used in placing bets on sporting events. BringIt.com side-steps that as competing in video games is, as previously defined, a game of skill. Players are not “betting”, but rather putting money as an entry fee. BringIt.com makes its money on the match-making service it offers, by taking a 14 per cent service fee on each match players accept or enter. “However, there are nine states within the US where the participation in skill-based video game tournaments for cash prizes is not allowed,” notes BringIt.com. “At this time, if you live in the following states, you may not play for cash prizes on BringIt: Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, Tennessee and Vermont.”

But for some, the appeal of money matches isn’t the money and isn’t even the winning, but the millisecond before a decision is made, the gut reaction. Many of the top fighting game players do gamble on cards, craps and slots. Some of them are as good at gambling as gaming, good enough to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars. “To play fighting games is to gamble,” says Killian. “These guys gamble with every move they make — the gambling sensibility is aligned perfectly with fighting games.”

And those thinking of playing money matches at the next big fighting tourney, Killian offers this advice: “Capcom’s position would certainly be to check your federal, state, and local laws regarding gambling, and to follow them.”

[Pic]

Arc System Works’ incremental follow up to original 2D brawler BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger features a larger roster, thanks to the addition of a handful of new fighters, plus one flashy intro full of hot licks and cool riffs.

Yes, there’s a little gameplay mixed in to the newly released trailer for BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, but if you consider yourself a fan of the new fighting series, you’ve likely seen some gameplay footage from various arcade location tests. But if you like seizure-inducing flair, this is the animation heavy intro you’ve been waiting for.

Thanks to notMordecai for the tip!

Back when games like Street Fighter II filled arcades, an upgrade to a new version of the famous fighter often meant switching out dedicated boards, a sometimes complicated proposition.

But Street Fighter IV runs on an actual PC computer tucked away inside those cabinets located in arcades. Capcom’s Seth Killian said that if Super Street Fighter IV was released to arcades, an arcade machine could be updated by simply installing new software and changing the cabinet’s art work.

Toki, the 1989 arcade platformer featuring a monkey with impressive spitting skills, is getting a high-definition remake for Xbox Live Arcade and PC via young French development studio Golgoth.

Confused? I know, the TAD Corporation’s arcade work may not be on your list of classic games in need of an HD overhaul, but I vaguely remember Toki being a challenging bit of fun. And I certainly appreciate Gogolth Studio’s mission “to keep 2D gaming alive within this 3D world”, even if that game is Toki.

More information on the Toki HD revamp and side-by-side comparison shots of the game are available at the official Golgoth site.

Five years ago, Sobe, now 36, was the three-time defending national champion in Golden Tee — the bar and bowling-alley golf simulator that’s one of the last arcade cabinets in America people are willing to drive somewhere to play. He parlayed his notoriety into a stable gig as a consultant and goodwill ambassador for the game’s maker, Incredible Technologies, giving up his eligibility in the lucrative tournaments they sponsored.

And just two months ago, Sobe shook hands with his colleagues at IT and said goodbye, to return, more or less, to where his career began – as the owner of the restaurant in Mount Airy, NC where he first played the game.

“It is neat to be back here playing Golden Tee with someone again. When I left here, I never thought I’d be back — and I never assumed I’d be back at Backstreet Pavilion again,” Sobe said, of the restaurant his parents owned for a time, and where he first learned the nuances of Golden Tee’s notorious trackball, and how to make it pay off for him.

Sobe’s parents owned the business in its first incarnation during the late 1990s, when its name and Mount Airy—which is literally the Mayberry of Andy Griffith lore—dominated nationwide Golden Tee leaderboards alongside establishments from Houston and the Chicago suburbs.

At one time, 10 Backstreet golfers made the national Golden Tee finals in Las Vegas, out of a field of 64. From his first tournament in 1997 through his third national title, Sobe won somewhere around $US150,000 — not a living by itself, but a very nice supplement to his income.

“We had 10 really good, world-class players around that time,” Sobe said. “Some have moved on, some are still around here. Some of the guys have come back around, we’re going to give it another shot and see if we can do well again in the tournaments.”

But over his five years with Incredible Technologies, Sobe had been somewhat out of practice. He still played the game nearly every day, but by now it was a job, and not something that he sought out in his spare time. Officially a products and services rep for IT, Sobe’s job involved flying to Golden Tee locations, playing against local competitors, giving virtual golf lessons, playtesting new course designs, the works. He was even giving in-game golf advice with the press of a HELP button. He just wasn’t playing in the types of events where he’d made his name, and he missed that.

“In the world of Golden Tee, the live events are really where it’s at,” Sobe said. “A lot of players can play well by themselves at their machine, but when you get to a live tournament, nerves become a factor, and the pressure’s on.”

So when his father called earlier this year to say the old Backstreet Pavilion building, which had different tenants since the family shuttered the business in 2002, was now vacant again, Sobe saw it as an opportunity to reconnect with his roots, in more ways than one.

“One day, Dad called me in Chicago and said ‘the Backstreet Building is vacant again’. We got into a discussion and he asked, ‘Do you want to do this all over again?’” Sobe said. “It was a good opportunity for me, looking into the future, and to have something for myself. And I can play Golden Tee again. I missed it. I missed playing at a high competitive level.

“For the last five years, I still played it, it was my job after all,” Sobe said. “But I’d be lying to you if I said I’d be going out and playing Golden Tee when i didn’t have to. In some regards I didn’t want to play Golden Tee. I wasn’t at the top of my game, and I wasn’t putting in the work I needed to be there.”

Golden Tee is a different game now — of course, it’s a different game every time it’s played, notorious for changing pin placements, tee box locations and environmental effects when IT updates all machines in the network at midnight. But opportunities to win real money in its online mode are more plentiful — including nine-hole scrambles and daily tournament events. The games’s 2010 model can be attached to any size monitor, now, rather than fixed to an arcade cabinet. When Backstreet’s new machine arrives, Sobe will hook it to a 42-inch panel so that everyone can see the action.

“You can make a lot more money now in Golden Tee than you could five years ago,” Sobe said. The purse payouts may be smaller but there are more paying events than ever. “If you can shoot even par, you can play for money, playing against people at your own skill level.”

For Sobe, taking over the mantle of a family business brings him full circle in another way. His father, Larry, serviced amusement machines for some 30 years, Sobe said, often taking him on overnight jobs. “I’ve been around gaming all my life,” he said. “I can remember times when Dad would have to go cover pool tables at a bowling alley, and he’d bring me along. He’d say, ‘Bring a pillow, you’re going to be sleeping on a pool table.” No way, Steven would say, and he’d play Donkey Kong or Galaga all night on free credits, at no time then or later ever thinking he’d be standing at an arcade cabinet for a living.

“By no means did I ever think I’d get to where I did with Golden Tee, nor did I really try, it just kind of happened,” Sobe said. “Everything lined up and went that way for me, and I’m very thankful for the opportunity. I got to do great things and meet interesting people, and do a lot of interesting things.

“But now I’m seeing if we can get us back on the map, and seeing if I still have it,” Sobe said. “A lot of these guys around here, they still want to beat me. I’m anxious to get back at it.”

Stick Jockey is Kotaku’s column on sports video games. It appears every Saturday.

On the Super Street Fighter IV Blog, Assistant Producer Natsuki Shiozawa writes, “It’s not that an arcade version of Super Street Fighter IV isn’t possible. That’s one thing I really want to get out there, that we never said to give up on an arcade version.”

Shiozawa then tries to appeal to those who want to play it in arcades and at home by talking about how much fun the finished product will be. According to her, the game is maxing out the PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware.

SUPER STREET FIGHTER IV｜スーパーストリートファイターIV オフィシャルブログ [NAKKY Blog]

Bonus points for those able to i.d. the arcades.